1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to semiconductor integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to techniques that facilitate proximity communication.
2. Related Art
Proximity communication techniques have been developed to facilitate communications between semiconductor chips. One promising proximity communication technique involves integrating arrays of capacitive transmitters and receivers onto semiconductor chips to facilitate inter-chip communication. For instance, a first chip can be situated face-to-face with a second chip so that transmitter pads on the first chip are capacitively coupled with receiver pads on the second chip, thereby allowing the first chip to transmit data signals directly to the second chip without having to route the data signals through intervening signal lines within a printed circuit board. Such capacitive communication techniques can greatly increase the communication bandwidth between chips, but they depend upon precise alignment between the associated communications components. For example, the effectiveness of capacitive coupling often depends on the alignment of the transmitter pads and the receiver pads.
Because sub-optimal alignment can reduce inter-chip communication performance and increase power consumption, some proximity communication systems employ electronic alignment techniques that dynamically correct the alignment of components to compensate for mechanical misalignment. For instance, each transmit pad may be split into an array of micropads that is supported by circuitry that can steer data to a subset of micropads that optimally overlaps with a receiving pad. Unfortunately, providing such circuitry to steer data is costly and consumes additional power.
Hence, what is needed are structures and methods that allow high-bandwidth communication between chips without the above-described problems.